This is day sixteen of the ten days they estimated it would take them to rebuild my lane.

The fourth week of a one to two week job.

They were supposed to be laying the final surface today. Hah! There is a bit of a noise of heavy machinery but no sign of anything. They probably have a tape recorder playing loud machinery noises while they pick their horses in the paper and ogle Page Three. Or do they have a Page Three these days when there is as much action they might want on the Interwebs?

Anyhows, I took a chance that the lane would be open today and had ordered a tank of oil. That was duly delivered with no problems, leaving me with heating for a few weeks and a massive hole in my savings. To fill the oil tank cost nearly as much as my dad paid for this house. That’s inflation for you?

I have to go out shortly. It’s the dreaded monthly visit to the vet. Penny hates it and always refuses to get in the car so I have to forcibly throw her in, and I hate it as I hate seeing Penny look so miserable. Also she has developed the trick of holding both her solid and liquid waste until she gets into the vet’s reception area whereupon she lets rip with a large lake and a pile of poo. This causes some concern amongst the other people in the waiting area but the staff are used to it now and are on standby with mops and loads of paper when I arrive.

The inevitable question when I see the vet is whether Penny has deteriorated or not. This is confusing as Penny is absolutely fine most of the time apart from a peculiar stiff walk, but occasionally she has a short period where she looses all control of her legs. She looks like a newborn calf trying to stand up and it’s the only time she appreciates a helping hand. Usually she hates being touched apart from a bit of gentle petting.

Suddenly there’s a load of extra noise on the lane and I just noticed some movement on my CCTV. I bet the buggers are going to block the lane just as I want to leave for the vet!

I was supposed to shampoo the carpet again today. It’s beginning to pong a bit again as it’s Penny’s favourite spot to offload a piss. I’ll do it tomorrow.

There is always a tomorrow.